Bayern beware Lyon's travelling success

FC Bayern München got off to a winning start in the UEFA Champions League on Matchday 1 to maintain a trend in this competition. Now they come up against Olympique Lyonnais, who looked to be launching their own campaign with a home defeat before two goals inside the last 17 minutes rescued a point against ACF Fiorentina.

• Bayern's Daniel Van Buyten settled an evenly-balanced game in Romania against FC Steaua Bucureşti in favour of the Bundesliga champions with a 15th-minute header. In their last two UEFA Champions League campaigns – 2006/07 and 2005/06 – Bayern started with three successive victories while in 2004/05 they won their first two.

• Lyon were also the opponents the last time Bayern played host to French opponents in the UEFA Champions League, a 2003/04 group-stage game which ended in a 2-1 victory for the visitors. Former Bayern striker Giovane Elber made it a successful homecoming with a fierce left-foot shot eight minutes into the second half to give Lyon the points after Roy Makaay (14) had cancelled out Juninho Pernambucano's sixth-minute strike.

• The lineups that night were:
Bayern: Oliver Kahn, Willy Sagnol (Mehmet Scholl), Bixente Lizarazu, Samuel Osei Kuffour, Robert Kovač, Martín Demichelis (Jens Jeremies), Roy Makaay, Zé Roberto, Michael Ballack, Claudio Pizarro (Roque Santa Cruz), Hasan Salihamidžić.
Lyon: Grégory Coupet, Edmílson, Michael Essien (Sidney Govou), Mahamadou Diarra, Juninho Pernambucano (Eric Carrière), Giovane Elber (Claudio Caçapa), Florent Malouda, Anthony Réveillère, Péguy Luyindula, Patrick Müller, Jérémy Berthod.

• In the 2000/01 second group stage the sides met again and this time the Bavarian club came out on top at home, winning 1-0 on 22 November 2000. It was one of seven victories for the club in a total of ten games against French visitors in European competition. They have lost two and drawn one.

• Their most important victories against French opponents came in the 1976 European Champion Clubs' Cup final when they got the better of AS Saint-Etienne 1-0 at Hampden Park. The previous season they had defeated the same team 2-0 at home after a 0-0 away draw in the last four to book their place in the final for the second season running. They went on to successfully defend the trophy.

• Bayern's last home game in the competition resulted in a 2-0 defeat by AC Milan in the 2006/07 quarter-final second leg. It brought to an end an eleven-match unbeaten run in Munich in the UEFA Champions League during which they had won eight and drawn three. Earlier in the 2006/07 campaign, Bayern won their first home group game and followed that with two draws. They then beat Real Madrid CF 2-1 at home in the first knockout round to secure an away-goals victory.

• At home to Fiorentina on Matchday 1, Lyon were put on the back foot by the marksmanship of Alberto Gilardino who scored with headers at either end of the first half. Substitute Frédéric Piquionne's 73rd-minute reply sparked a spirited fightback for the French double-winners with Karim Benzema earning a point four minutes from time.

• Lyon extended their splendid recent record in Germany when they won 2-0 away at VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 3 last season. It meant they had won on all their last four visits to that country. On their previous appearances – either side of that 2003/04 triumph in Munich – they beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen 4-2 in the 2001/02 first group stage, and Werder Bremen 3-0 in the first knockout round in 2004/05. Juninho also scored in that win at the Weserstadion.

• Before that sequence away to Bundesliga clubs Lyon had a poor record in Germany. They started with a draw at Hamburger SV and followed that with five straight defeats in which they failed to score a single goal. The last of those losses was Bayern's 1-0 victory in November 2000.

• Lyon's first away game in last season's competition resulted in a 3-0 defeat at FC Barcelona but they then won twice on their travels – against Stuttgart and Rangers FC, scoring five without reply over the two games – to ensure they finished second in the group. In the first knockout round a 1-0 reverse at Manchester United FC confirmed their departure from the tournament, losing 2-1 on aggregate.

• Lyon striker Fred has good memories of the Fußball Arena München having scored there within two minutes of coming on as a substitute for Brazil in the 2006 FIFA World Cup game with Australia to seal a 2-0 win.

• Frenchman Sagnol and Franck Ribéry will come up against international team-mates François Clerc, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Benzema, Sidney Govou and Jérémy Toulalan.

• The section's other Matchday 2 fixture pits Fiorentina against Steaua.